Display turning completely off in Always On mode

I'm on 7.2 and after a period of not moving my wrist, the display turns completely off (this is after the expected dimming) even though I have Always On selected. I hope this is a bug and not one of the ways it gets the 6 days of battery life.

Top Replies

Garmin - Chris over 2 years ago +7 verified

Updated October 18th, 2022:

If your display was turning off despite your settings, the v9.37 software update has fixed the issue.

- v9.37 Software Update

This picture will help and the Support Center article…
acousticbiker over 2 years ago in reply to Garmin - Chris +6

Thanks, Chris. Yes, that does help but given those specifications there isn’t really an option for a display that is always on so “Always on Display” is misleading (and now it makes sense how Epix is able…
tx911 over 2 years ago in reply to TonyWinters +5

I hope the 7 works out better for you. I’ll never be able to go back to that muted screen after having the Epix for a week.

To reiterate my experience, AOD on, gestures off, and I literally never…

All Replies

0 1502160 over 2 years ago in reply to NYanakiev7

you do have the option. also like i said if you turn off do not disturb mode the screen stays on at all times

0 TonyWinters over 2 years ago in reply to 1502160

Again sadly not for me

my Epix behaves exactly like shown in the picture of „garmin Chris“

after 60 seconds the display turns completely off

0 elliotek over 2 years ago in reply to 1502160

Where do you turn off do not disturb?

0 TonyWinters over 2 years ago in reply to elliotek

To clarify dnd is off on my epix

You can turn it off under system/dnd in the settings menu

0 elliotek over 2 years ago in reply to TonyWinters

I do this from my watch and it doesn't work unless I'm doing something wrong. Let me please know what you have set in the watch options.

0 TonyWinters over 2 years ago in reply to elliotek

Sorry if you understood me wrong

it does not work!

0 elliotek over 2 years ago in reply to TonyWinters

0 6447640 over 2 years ago

I can understand people's frustration on this matter. I have returned or sold multiple OLED smartwatches due to the choice between requiring a gesture to view screen or getting really bad battery life. Garmin's promise of 6-day battery life with AOD was incredible, and it proves it actually is unattainable with true Always-On Display.

However, turning the display off "magically" when you don't really need it is not a bad idea. Maybe turning it on at the slightest movement is not such a big deal but it depends on how smart Garmin's interpretation of "no movement" is. I mean, a living body should always generated movement :)

I am actually a bit disappointed that Garmin chose to focus on OLED and not to improve on trans-reflective tech. The Fenix 7 has basically no improvement over Fenix 6 in screen reflectivity or resolution.

0 TonyWinters over 2 years ago in reply to 6447640

You may be right but still it is false advertisement

If I had known that, I would have never bought it instead of the Fenix 7, to be honest

0 MilouSs over 2 years ago in reply to 6447640

Yeah, why not set the timeout so that it only kicks in if the HR sensor doesn't get a reading?

But it still only should be an option. I think that's the important part here, that Garmin is forcing this on its customers.

This reminds me of when Apple tried to cripple their older iPhones with a software update. I really really dislike this behavior from companies